PER - Post School Education and Training (PSET)

What is this?

Post-school education and training (PSET) is critical to South Africa’s future socio-economic development. It dramatically improves the employment prospects of young people and raises their incomes from such employment. In addition, broadening the skills base would be socially and economically transformative, and promote economic and employment growth. A primary goal of the PSET system has been to increase access to higher education and skills training. Government has expanded the capacity of the universities and the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges, while also increasing funding for workplace training. University enrolment has grown rapidly, but enrolment at TVET colleges has grown even faster. The main mechanism for increasing access to the PSET system for young people from poor households has been the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), which has grown significantly. ​